March 29, 2008

Washington, D.C. - The Georgetown Lightweight Women's Crew defeated Radcliffe's Lightweight Crew this morning on the Charles River in Boston, Mass. With the victory, the Hoyas retained the Class of 2004 Cup. The victorious Varsity Lightweight 8 consisted of stroke Katharine Thompson, Laura Donaldson, Alex Vezina, Madeline Sarason, Alexis Zink, Maria Lipperini, Christianne Persenaire, bow Kristin Jasiukiewicz and coxswain Danielle Valle-Fitzgerald and defeated the Radcliffe crew by 4.3 seconds.

The Class of 2004 Cup was donated by graduates from both schools and is awarded to the winner of the Varsity Lightweight 8 race. The inaugural race was held during the spring of 2005 on the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. with Radcliffe winning the race. In 2006, Radcliffe retained the cup in a race on their home waters and last year, Georgetown won the cup for the first time.

The Second Lightweight 8 (stroke Yevdokiya Yermolayeva, Jana Piazza, Elizabeth Stanowski, Suzanne Elliott, Catherine Maloney, Julia McCarthy, Morgan McGovern, bow Claudia Daisley and coxswain Juliana Pugliese) and Novice Lightweight 8 (coxswain Kateryna Christian, stroke Hannah Kittel, Lara Ericson, Siobhan McIntosh, Althea Smith, Ali McLaughlin, Margi Emhof, Alex Kisielewski and Garazi Zulaika) both finished second in their respective races.